In 2025, fire departments serving Trappe responded to 59 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
236 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $356K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | — | |
| 2023 | 68 | +54.5% | |
| 2024 | 44 | -35.3% | |
| 2025 | 59 | +34.1% |
* Well below Trappe's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 8 building fires Trappe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 23.5% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Trappe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Trappe departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Trappe sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,807 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,208 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 21.1 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Trappe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.